Gold Coast 600: McLaughlin on pole, Mostert hits the wall

Having felt he over-drove his Penske Ford in regular qualifying, McLaughlin was sublime in the single-lap dash for pole.

His 1m10.078s was almost half a second faster than he went this morning, and ultimately left him 0.17s clear of next-best Jamie Whincup.

“I just had to have a big think about it and realised I needed to stop over-driving it,” he said.

“I’m glad Chaz is alright, that was a big lick. I hope his team can get back out there.

“But stoked for our team, the car has been good all weekend, I’ve just been driving really badly.”

It was a horror session for provisional polesitter Mostert, heavy contact with the wall leaving him in serious doubt for the rest of the weekend.

Looking to chase down McLaughlin's time, the Tickford star grazed the inside wall at Turn 11, which fired his Mustang hard into the concrete on the outside of the corner.

Not setting a time means he's listed as ninth on the grid for today's 300-kilometre opener, however it's currently unclear if the car is repairable.

Whincup will start the race from the outside of the first row, marking a two-spot improvement on his regular qualifying effort.

Red Bull Holden teammate Shane van Gisbergen went one spot backwards, dropping from second to third after small lock-up into Turn 11, with Cam Waters set to line up on the outside of the second row.

Lee Holdsworth and Fabian Coulthard will start fifth and sixth, followed by David Reynolds and Andre Heimgartner.

James Courtney will start from 10th, a kerb strike meaning he didn't set a time.

Cla	#	Driver		Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	17	Scott McLaughlin Alexandre Prémat		Ford Mustang GT	1	01'10.078			152.057
2	888	Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes		Holden Commodore ZB	1	01'10.258	00.179	00.179	151.669
3	97	Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander		Holden Commodore ZB	1	01'10.307	00.228	00.049	151.562
4	6	Cameron Waters Michael Caruso		Ford Mustang GT	1	01'10.414	00.336	00.107	151.332
5	5	Lee Holdsworth Thomas Randle		Ford Mustang GT	1	01'10.722	00.643	00.307	150.673
6	12	Fabian Coulthard Tony D'Alberto		Ford Mustang GT	1	01'10.753	00.674	00.030	150.608
7	9	David Reynolds Luke Youlden		Holden Commodore ZB	1	01'10.959	00.880	00.206	150.170
8	7	Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood		Nissan Altima	1	01'11.033	00.954	00.074	150.013